Christopher Lee nominated for Best Actor at 52nd Golden Bell Awards

The 52nd Golden Bell Awards announced its list of nominees yesterday with Singapore-based actor Christopher Lee being nominated for the category of Best Actor in a Mini-series or Television Film for his role in The Long Goodbye.

This is Christopher’s first nomination in this category after he won the Best Actor trophy in 2014 for his role in the drama A Good Wife, and he will be going up against Taiwanese actors Chris Wu (Wu Kang-jen), Alex Ko, Fu Meng-po and Lan Wei-hua. It will be a close race between TV kings Christopher and Chris, who picked up the gong for Best Actor in a Television Series award last year for his performance in the drama The Day I Lost You, based on a real-life story.

Speaking on his nomination, Christopher, who plays a closeted gay man based on a true story, admitted that the storyline was very dark and he felt very down before the filming even began after he learned about what his character went through. These depressing feelings did not subside even after filming wrapped and the 46-year-old took a long time to get over it.

His younger counterpart, Chris, 34, who is also nominated for Best Actor award for his role in Love of Sandstorm, was extremely excited to receive news about his double nominations this year. “My competitors are all very strong, but I still hope Love of Sandstorm brings home the win,” he said.

Chris’ happiness was a stark contrast to fellow nominee Blue Lan, who was nominated for his role in Have You Ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang?

According to Blue, he originally “wanted to withdraw from the show due to its poor ratings” which left him in tears with the director, so it came as a big shock that he was even nominated.

Taiwanese actress Rainie Yang, who previously won the Best Actress award for Hi My Sweetheart in 2010, is back in the race again. The petite singer expressed “no regrets” over the movie opportunities she had to give up over the past seven years and said the nomination was “worth the wait” as it was something she truly wanted.

She is nominated for her role in melodrama Life Plan A and B, and her fellow nominees include old-timer Yang Kuei-mei, Samantha Ko, rookie Allison Lin and Queenie Fang.

Out of 24 categories this year, TV series Love of Sandstorm was nominated across nine categories, and the chairman of the judges praised the show for its innovative plot and fantastic actors.

The 52nd Golden Bell Awards is scheduled to be held on Sep 30 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.

Photos: PBE Media

Related links:
Golden Bell Awards nominees unveiled
51st Golden Bell Awards: Winners gallery
Christopher Lee puts on 18kg for new movie role

Some of the 52 award nominees include:

Best Television Series
Abula
Game
Close Your Eyes Before It’s Dark
Love of Sandstorm
Family Time

Best Miniseries
Far and Away - Dark Beauty
The Devil Game
The Teenage Psychic
She's Family

Best Television Film
Their Heaven
The Long Goodbye
Keep Going
We Are One
Upstream
Witty Star

Best Leading Actor in a Television Series
Chris Wu — Love of Sandstorm
Wes Lo — High 5 Basketball
Liu Te-kai — Never Forget Then
Fan Kuang-yao — Love of Sandstorm
Blue Lan — Have You Ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang?

Best Leading Actress in a Television Series
Queenie Fang — Reborn from the Dust
Allison Lin — Love By Design
Samantha Ko — Love of Sandstorm
Rainie Yang — Life Plan A and B
Yang Kuei-mei — Life List

Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series
Chang Ko-chung — Have You Ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang?
Greg Hsu — Have You Ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang?
Yu An-shun — Abula
Huang Shang-ho — Close Your Eyes Before It's Dark
Johnny Lu — Life Plan A and B

Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series
Ariel Ann — Game
Sun Ke-Fang — Close Your Eyes Before It’s Dark
Chen Yu — Love of Sandstorm
You Qiao Xuan — Reborn from the Dust
Liu Yu Ci — Tonight